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TILDEN, SAMUEL JONES. 



He was a delegate to the Democratic Na- 

 tional Convention of 1864, and reported the 

 resolutions adopted by that body, though per- 

 sonally opposed to that in regard to the war. 

 In 1866 he became chairman of the Democrat- 

 ic State Committee, and held that post for sev- 

 eral years. On September 17 of that year he 

 delivered a brief address at a mass -meeting 

 held in Union Square, New York, to ratify 

 the action of the "National Union Conven- 

 tion " which met at Philadelphia Aug. 14, 1866. 

 The gist of the speech was, that the States had 

 never been out of the Union ; that they were 

 indestructible ; and that the reconstruction pol- 

 icy of Andrew Johnson ought to be sustained, 

 as against that of Congress. 



Mr. Tilden was a member of the New York 

 Constitutional Convention of 1867, and in oppo- 

 sition to a proposition to enlarge the Erie Canal 

 made an able argument showing that the canal 

 was capable, if kept in good repair and prop- 

 erly managed, of meeting every requirement 

 of trade. At the Democratic State Conven- 

 tion held in Albany, March 11, 1868, to choose 

 delegates to the National Convention, he made 

 a deliberate and vigorous onslaught on the 

 reconstruction policy of the Republican party, 

 discussing at length the feasibility of granting 

 full citizenship to the freedmen. He was a 

 delegate to the Democratic National Conven- 

 tion that met in New York, July 4, of that 

 year, and it was left to his judgment to change 

 the vote of New York to Salmon P. Chase 

 when he considered the change expedient ; but 

 he waited too long, and the movement to nom- 

 inate Seymour was started, and could not be 

 controlled. On October 12 he presented, in a 

 letter to the New York " World " a careful es- 

 timate of " The Waste of the War." It was as- 

 serted that New York Slate was not fairly car- 

 ried for Seymour, and Mr. Tilden was much 

 criticised for a circular in regard to sending 

 in returns that was issued in his name but with- 

 out his knowledge. 



As chairman of the Democratic State Com- 

 mittee, he had made a thorough canvass of the 

 State and put himself into communication with 

 leading Democrats in every locality, so that he 

 knew the composition of the party and could 

 rely on steadfast support in an emergency, and 

 an emergency was at hand. He had for some 

 time been hostile to the disreputable and dis- 

 honest politicians who composed the Tweed 

 Ring, and at last he undertook the work of 

 breaking down their power. The origin of 

 the ring, it is said, lay in the equal but arbitra- 

 ry division of the Board of Supervisors by the 

 Legislature between the two great parties in 

 1857. The government of the metropolis was 

 gradually taken under the control of the Legis- 

 lature at Albany, and farmed out to commis- 

 sions, bureaus, and executive departments; and 

 as a result there grew up a sort of partnership 

 between Democratic officials in New York, 

 and Republican politicians at the capital, in re- 

 gard to the city patronage. Of this combina- 



tion Mr. Tilden said : " The very definition of a 

 ring is that it encircles enough influential men 

 of each party to control the action of both 

 party machines men who in public push to 

 extremes the abstract ideas of their respect- 

 ive parties, while they secretly join their hands 

 in schemes for personal power and profits." 

 The Tweed Ring was brought to complete or- 

 ganization Jan. 1, 1869, when A. Oakey Hall 

 became mayor, though Connolly, one of the 

 leaders, had been Comptroller for two years 

 before that time ; it reached the height of its 

 prosperity April 5, 1870, when the Legislature 

 passed what was known as the Tweed charter, 

 surrendering the various departments of the 

 government of New York city into the hands 

 of men appointed to office by the mayor, for 

 long terms and freed from accountability ; it 

 was virtually overthrown in November, 1871. 

 The system of plunder carried on by Tweed 

 and his associates was colossal : they controlled 

 the politics of the metropolis; they had sev- 

 eral judges ready to do their bidding; they 

 dominated the Democracy of the State through 

 splendid rascality; and they had schemes for 

 the conquest of the party in the nation. The 

 ring failed in an attempt to put Mr. Tilden off 

 the State Committee in 1869; and in 1870 he 

 opposed the Tweed charter, though he attend- 

 ed the State Convention of that year, where 

 the masters of Tammany Hall flaunted as the 

 rulers of the party ; and to the casual observer 

 he seemed content with their companionship. 

 But in 1871 he began the work of organizing 

 opposition. His purpose was to exclude the 

 ring delegation from the Democratic State Con- 

 vention, and capture the city representation in 

 the Legislature. Many able men were associ- 

 ated with him in the movement, but he was 

 the leader. He marshaled the facts in regard 

 to the frauds committed ; he contrived to brow- 

 beat and cajole some of the thieves, and fright- 

 en them all ; he took a share in the legal ac- 

 tions instituted ; he went to the State Conven- 

 tion at Rochester, and fought adroitly and yet 

 boldly for the exclusion of the Tammany dele- 

 gation and for the nomination of a new State 

 ticket, and especially for the nomination of 

 Charles O'Conor as Attorney-General ; he came 

 forward as a candidate for Assembly ; though 

 the official head of the Democratic party in the 

 State, he proclaimed the necessity of sinking 

 all partisan associations to compass the over- 

 throw of the dishonest managers of a great 

 Democratic organization ; as a member of the 

 Legislature, he forced the impeachment of the 

 judges implicated in the guilt of the ring, 

 " against every imaginable obstacle, open and 

 covert, political and personal." The ring was 

 utterly destroyed, and even Tammany Hall was 

 reorganized by its enemies. 



In 1873 Mr. Tilden resigned the chairman- 

 ship of the Democratic State Committee before 

 making a trip to Europe, but he accepted a 

 re-election on his return. On Sept. 17, 1874, 

 he was nominated for the governorship. In 



